Actually, that's no news, since it has become the standard: blackwashing white characters. Of course, only the good ones. You know the drill: black-good, white-evil, saying otherwise is racist.
Amazon’s Wheel of Time Series Race Swaps Egwene, Perrin, and Nynaeve
https://boundingintocomics.com/2019/08/18/amazons-wheel-of-time-series-race-swaps-egwene-perrin-and-nynaeve/
Well, why not?
The important thing is that certain characters are supposed to look obviously ethnically different than others, why not make it really obvious.
But who did they cast as Rand?
shareHe's a redhead at least
shareStarts tonight, right? Are you going to watch it? I'm on the fence.
shareI'm on the 3rd episode right now. It says something that I'm checking my phone,lol. It also says something that I've watched all 3 episodes today, but I'm laid up with a knee injury, so that's part of it. Not terrible by any means, but it doesn't feel like WOT. Too many changes. Lan and Morraine fit the image of their characters in my head, but none of the rest do. I'll keep going though.
sharelet me guess: Rand becomes the bad guy!!
shareThe fragility is strong in this one!🤣
shareWhy do you hate white people?
shareNice comeback, grandma. Haven’t heard that one before.
The bottom line is we know why there needs to be some whitewashing and it’s because there are no black-created epics or stories that stand the rest of time. Wakanda is Israel for Christ’s sake.
Replacement ;)
Well, it's an Amazon show after all.
Buddy of mine is a big fan of the books, yeah, he's not too happy about the "diversity".
The problem is, it's already a very diverse story in the books, but it doesn't start out that way. I think they were afraid of having an all white cast to start the series. But even from the beginning of the books, the most powerful characters are a woman and an Asian looking guy.
shareIt has been explained to me, in the past when I have tried to point out such facts, that "it is not a point system".
So, the fact that it is already diverse, doesn't give the remaining white characters or the book itself, any..."points"
See, if "Diversity" was really about having diverse casts, then pointing out that there is already a diverse cast, would count. But, in reality, "Diversity" is just an excuse to denounce or marginalize anything they choose.
As far as I can tell so far.
The books are true to reality. These are very isolated cultures, they wouldn't be a melting pot of colors, besides the Whitecloaks, who are assembled from across the continent. Certain races would exist in certain areas, just like most of the world is today, and we have a global economy and transportation system in place. It is a dumb choice on the writers part in the show.
shareJust watched the “first look.” It wouldn’t be a big deal except they turned the Unnecessary De-Whitening dial up to 11. They should have spent more money on better special effects and less on appeasing the unappeasable.
I only read the first few books. I would have probably checked the series out but if the producers made this boner decision it doesn’t bode well for the series as a whole, does it?
But at least they ticked all the right boxes. Hopefully the chattering classes will actually support this show. This always happens, though. A very niche, geeky property is adapted, the bandwagon is filled with professional complainers, then once their demands are met and the product is shit, they move on to the next one.
Hopefully it’s either so good this crap won’t matter or it’s so bad the series is out on ice until this woke BS dies down.
At this point I fully expect Dorothy Gale, George Washington, Queen Elizabeth, Pippy Lockstocking, and Abigail Williams to be colorized. I mean, if the Danish Little Mermaid can be black, who cares.
I wonder if even period pieces will now be Burger King Kids Clubbed.
Well, they are remaking Native Son but casting Daniel Radcliffe as Bigger Thomas and Serena Williams as Mary Dalton.
shareI don't mind some race-swapping where it makes sense and fits the story, and unlike some reviewers I actually liked the first episode (which is all I've watched so far). I should preface that by stating that I've read the books (all of them, despite the second half of them being a bit of a drudge with excessive extraneous detail, and WAYYYY too much skirt-smoothing by every female character).
The big problem I have is the ridiculous notion that somehow an isolated, rural very small town of just a couple hundred members has so much genetic diversity. It would have required every parent to have been first or second generation visitors, with ancestors from all around the world. It makes no sense whatsoever. One or two families, maybe. Or swap the whole town.
But pretty much every genetic mix is represented, and it's just lazy, over-woke casting. Provide the diversity as they travel around (or like they did with Lan, a character I find as well-cast as Moraine). Don't dump it all into a small town that would have a very high probability of being genetically homogeneous. I can look past it, but it's taking it to a level that defies even the logic of a fantasy world.
Or, perhaps with a line or two, explain how this tiny town out in the middle of nowhere ended up with genetic representatives from every region across the planet. That's all I would have needed. A line or two of explanation. Perhaps that's upcoming? Highly doubt it.
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Never believe. Always question. Rebuke belief, a.k.a. bias, a.k.a. groupthink, a.k.a. ideology, the bane of skeptical, logical reason.
Refugees.
Initially the town was made up of 2 people but then refugees from all over the world flocked in ...
Ha! Well, there ya go. See Amazon, that's not so hard! But seriously, they could have at least tried.
_________________________________________
Never believe. Always question. Rebuke belief, a.k.a. bias, a.k.a. groupthink, a.k.a. ideology, the bane of skeptical, logical reason.
Yeah it was an interesting blend of strong female characters, but probably filtered through an old-school male view of women. And instead of exploring other avenues, he seemed to dig into the tropes he established even deeper.
_________________________________________
Never believe. Always question. Rebuke belief, a.k.a. bias, a.k.a. groupthink, a.k.a. ideology, the bane of skeptical, logical reason.
Oh the skirt-smoothing, that drove me nuts in the books. I enjoyed the books but he really could not write women. The very idea that three women would cheerfully share one man, just, no. No. No.
shareI never understood his decision to do that.
shareIt was novel but not in a good way. I also remember there were long, involved descriptions of their dresses. I'm a woman, but I found those descriptions so dull.
Probably not optimal to start watching the series by bringing to mind all the things that annoyed me about it. I wonder when we'll get to meet Verin Sedai. She was one of my favorite characters.